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Genesis Theme Review – WordPress Theme Framework by StudioPress

Genesis is a theme framework that has become very popular very soon – over 71,000 online publishers are currently using it. In fact, all my blogs run on Genesis!

Here is an in-depth Genesis theme review where I cover the features of Genesis in detail so that you can decide if this theme is right for you or not.

I also discuss the various buying options, and recommend the right one for you if you think Genesis is the right theme for you.

Genesis Theme Review – Features and Benefits of Using Genesis

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

This is the biggest benefit of using Genesis – it comes with a clean code that is search engine optimized, which means your blog would automatically rank high in Google and other search engine results with lesser SEO effort on your part.

Its design and architecture are optimized for search engines from the core – it loads the important sections of your blog first so that the most relevant part of any web page is seen first by the search engines (and your visitors).

I can personally vouch for this – I have seen that my new blogs using the Genesis theme get indexed by Google very fast, and quickly start ranking better in search engine results.

Great Looking Blog – Right Out of the Box

Genesis also comes with 45+ chile themes – these are the themes (or skins) that run on top of Genesis. New child themes are constantly being developed and released.

All the Genesis child themes look stunning, and can completely change the look and feel of your blog while retaining all the core benefits of Genesis.

These professional looking child themes can be used right out of the box, which means you can completely redefine your blog in a single click! Of course, they can also be customized in any way you want.

Following are some of the Genesis child themes – you can click on any image to check the features of that theme + a live demo.

Regular Updates

WordPress keeps evolving, and your theme needs to keep pace with it. If it doesn’t, it would not be able to benefit by the new features offered by WordPress.

Genesis doesn’t disappoint in this aspect at all – it comes up with frequent updates to keep pace with WordPress and the latest Google algorithm changes.

You would be assured that your blog remains up to date all the time. And you know what makes it easier? 1-click updates! Yes, that’s right.

Within your WordPress admin dashboard, you would get a message whenever a new version of the Genesis theme is available. And you can update Genesis with a single click! No downloads, no FTP, no messing with database, no configuration – it can’t get any simpler that this.

Tons of Customization Options

Genesis Theme Review - Loads of Customization Options

There are lots of options within the theme to customize the functionality of your blog. Here are some of the options:

Widgets: Genesis is widget ready, and comes with widgetized sidebars. Most child themes also come with widgetized areas on the home page, the header and the footer. You can place almost anything in these areas, and fully customize your blog.

Theme options: Genesis has a very simple admin page where you can set the theme options. You can easily change things like the layout of the site, breadcrumbs, color scheme, etc.

Post-by-post customization: Genesis gives you great control over the way your posts and pages look. You can even change the layout of individual posts and pages!

Threaded comments: Genesis is fully capable of showing threaded comments that are multiple levels deep. It also fully supports Gravatar.

Layout Options

Genesis supports the following layouts for your blog:

Content/Sidebar

Sidebar/Content

Content/Sidebar/Sidebar (this is the layout of my blog)

Sidebar/Content/Sidebar

Sidebar/Sidebar/Content

Content only (full width – no sidebar)

Please remember that apart from setting the blog layout in the Genesis admin settings page, you also have the option to change the layout of individual posts and pages.

Custom Widgets

Genesis comes with its own set of widgets that you can use to further customize your blog. Some of these are:

Custom Plugins

The Genesis team at StudioPress has also come up with several plugins that are meant specifically for the Genesis theme. These plugins can greatly enhance the functionality of the theme.

I myself have used several of these Genesis plugins, and have found them very useful. Some of these plugins are:

Genesis Connect: You can build your own social network using Genesis connect!

Genesis Slider: You can create a slider that displays post or page titles along with their featured image and excerpt. You can define the categories, post IDs, and a lot more.

Genesis Simple Hooks: You can insert any code (HTML / PHP) at various locations of your blog (after the header, before the post, before the sidebars, after the post, etc). I use this hook to display info about my free e-course just after the header and just below the posts.

Genesis Simple Menus: You can assign any WordPress menu to your blog’s secondary navigation menu on a per post or per category basis.

Genesis Simple Sidebars: You can create your own dynamic widget areas and assign them to sidebars on a per post or per category basis.

Genesis Tabs: You can create a tabbed section using widgets.

Security

Genesis comes with rock solid coding that doesn’t leave any loopholes open. No one with malicious intention would be able to hack your blog or install malware on it.

Great Support & Knowledge Base

StudioPress has an awesome support team that is very responsive. I have never had to use them, but have heard very good things about them. Their forums are also very active, and you can find a lot of ideas and solutions there.

Genesis also has a great knowledge base in the form of tutorials that would help you not just with theme setup (which is quite easy in the first place), but also with the SEO of your blog.

Unlimited License

When you buy the Genesis theme framework, you get an unlimited license. You can use it on any number of blogs and sites without any restriction! Even if you don’t have multiple blogs right now, it is good to have this option at no extra cost, right?

If you build blogs and websites for clients, you can install Genesis there too!

You also get unlimited support and unlimited updates for life.

Recommendations for Genesis Theme Framework

Genesis Theme Comes Highly Recommended

The Genesis framework and its child themes come highly recommended by some great people from the blogging and internet marketing space:

My Recommendation

As I have mentioned a few times earlier, I use Genesis themes on all my blogs.

The best part is the SEO benefits – it takes very little effort to rank well for your keywords if you are using Genesis. I also love the fact that it is constantly updated to keep pace with the WrodPress releases.

I have also found great use of its many built-in widgets and hooks.

I think the Genesis theme framework is great, and should also give you great results. If you are interested in purchasing it, you can see the various buying options below.

Genesis Theme Review – Buying Options

There are 3 ways you can buy the Genesis theme. Each option has its own benefits, and is suitable for certain uses – I have discussed it in detail under each option.

Please note that the purchase of Genesis is a one time cost – there is no ongoing monthly fee. All updates are always free.

1. Buy only the Genesis framework

This is the cheapest option – it gives you all the benefits of the Genesis theme, and gives your blog a solid foundation. You get:

The Genesis framework

The basic Genesis theme

Unlimited updates and support

License to use Genesis on unlimited blogs and sites

Detailed theme tutorials

You can use its default look, or can develop your own child theme according to your needs. You can also outsource the development of a child theme.

You can also use one of the few free child themes made available by StudioPress.

Genesis Theme Review – Conclusion

I hope you found this Genesis theme review useful.

Genesis is a great theme, and I can confidently recommend it since I have been using it for all my blogs for a long time. I am very sure that it would tremendously help you in the success of your blog.

Have you been using Genesis? What has your experience been? Have I missed anything? Please let me know through your comments!

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